A Glasgow MP is calling for asylum seekers to have the right to work.

Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss says the treatment of asylum seekers is "degrading" and is calling for changes to immigration rules.

She will use a debate in Westmintser today (11 January) to make the call and hopes to begin to change strict rules governing asylum seekers in the UK.

Since 2002 any asylum seeker arriving on British soil is prohibited from paid work.

The argument has stood that since applications are meant to be processed within six months working is not an option. However, many asylum seekers take years appealing their right to remain in the UK and have to rely on state support and charity handouts to survive.

Thewliss said: "The increasingly poor treatment of asylum seekers and the removal of the most basic rights is nothing short of degrading and simply adds further misery to those who have fled persecution, war, famine and sexual violence.

Life is made ever more difficult due to the draconian restrictions placed upon them - Alison Thewliss

"I know from speaking to some of the asylum seeking constituents I represent that life is made ever more difficult due to the draconian restrictions placed upon them by the UK government.

"These restrictions range from the threat of detention, regular and unsettling signing sessions at the Home Office, right through to the ban on working."